Dutton here meet
the challenge of the belligerent hunter
of musical rarities head-on. There
are no compromises; no half-measures.
You look in vain for a popular filler.
Not that this approach is new to Dutton.
They are used to the pursuit of gems
among the esoteric. Here is a disc
which speaks of Dutton’s musicality
at its peak. It must have been an
expensive project too – involving
full orchestra, scores and parts to
prepare, solo singers and a booklet
including full sung texts and very
extensive notes by Lewis Foreman.
Erik Chisholm’s
Second Symphony bears the name of
the Celtic hero Ossian. He was also
the subject of Yeats’ dramatic poem
The Wanderings of Usheen –
which was the begetter and accelerant
for Bax’s life-long absorption into
the Gaelic world. Until the recording
sessions it was never performed as
a symphony although it was quarried
for the four-scene ballet The Earth-Shapers
which was choreographed by Margaret
Morris and did receive performances.
Chisholm was a musical
dynamo in the life of Scotland and
especially in Glasgow but then, rather
like W.H. Bell, moved to Cape Town
where he transformed the musical life
of South Africa. Something of his
indomitable energy can be felt in
the sturdy and tragic cortege tragic
that is the first movement of the
symphony. The melodic content has
a Scottish skirl, snap and snarl and
a twist of conflict from Vaughan Williams’
Fourth Symphony. Before the movement
ends Chisholm has us breathing the
air of heather and the highlands with
birdsong suggesting a Caledonian Patrick
Hadley. There’s even a murmurous moment
or two when the slight sway of the
music indicates the influence of Cyril
Scott. The middle movement bears a
Baxian stamp as well as the bustling
impudence of Moeran and all this tricked
out in gaudy Russian splendour. The
finale is in three separately tracked
segments. After a hymn-like introduction
the music soon buzzes with activity.
It transiently suffers from a touch
of fugal academicism but this is quickly
offset by an energy redolent of Bax's
Northern Ballad No. 1. Moments of
wistful beauty take us back to heather
hills and stately cavalcades of cloud.
The music retreats most impressively
into serenity and the far horizon.
There is still much
to learn about Chisholm. Until reading
Lewis Foreman’s note I did not for
example know that Chisholm had arranged
Alkan’s Symphonie (for piano)
for string orchestra. As for the Second
Symphony it grows in standing every
time I hear it so I plead with some
confidence for premiere recordings
of the First Symphony, the Violin
Concerto, the Second Piano Concerto
entitled The Hindustani and
the Pictures from Dante – the
latter two revived last year by BBC
Scotland. The Chisholm revival borne
high by Murray
McLachlan, Ronald
Brautigam, Olympia
and Dunelm
deserves to take its place in the
vanguard of the Scottish cultural
renaissance. Scotland’s well-placed
pride in its musical masters now needs
further and sustained support for
this composer.
Trevor Hold was
born in Northampton - the same town
as Alwyn, Rubbra and Arnold. Hold
however prized the town’s connection
with the poet John Clare. Hold’s living
was earned in the academic world.
His music includes two symphonies,
a piano concerto and much vocal music
including two cycles for voice with
orchestra. The song-cycle The Unreturning
Spring is to the war poems of
James Farrar. The writing here reminds
me of another neglected master of
song – Geoffrey Bush: his Summer
Serenade is a masterwork. However
more frequently Hold’s style here
is redolent of Britten and of William
Mathias. That enamoured and warmly
misty horn in The Beloved inevitably
summons up echoes of Britten’s Serenade.
The horn-player delivers the groaningly
ecstatic moans in the final song with
total commitment and technical aplomb.
The writing for the soprano is often
explosive and wide-ranging. This is
handled wonderfully by Ailish Tynan
although the words are rather occluded
by the demands of this score. This
is not something that presents any
problem for the reliable and honey-accented
voice of Roderick Williams – a singer
whose role in so many British revivals
has made him a familiar presence.
The two singers often enter into dialogue
or commentary within each song – so
the ‘division of spoils’ is more subtle
and intermingled than usual. Woodwind
in this work are often called on to
evoke birdsong - examples abound but
do sample tracks 12 and 13.
The lull and gentle
rocking of Eric Fogg’s mood-picture
Sea-Sheen
is lovingly done by Gavin Sutherland.
It is a modest little piece but Fogg
makes of it something very special.
Time to pension off the crackly recording
I have as performed by the BBC Midland
Light Orchestra conducted by Gilbert
Vinter. Fogg’s Merok is Norwegian
in locale but rather than implying
the voice of Grieg it is Delius and
Grainger who come to mind. The work
slips by in a beguiling haar of Delian
suggestion and with lively avian flitter
of woodwind song in a style touched
on by Moeran. This pieces moves between
warm Englishry and fjord summers.
I should add that
Fogg’s Bassoon Concerto – his most
famous work – has been recorded and
is available singly
and as part of a boxed
set.
If you must find
a link between works grouped in this
way then I can provide one. The link
is the doom-laden year 1939. It is
the year of the Chisholm symphony,
the year when Fogg died and the year
when Trevor Hold was born.
Three fine and contrasted
works all receiving world premiere
recordings. The Chisholm has Northern
pomp and poetry. The Hold is a subtle
Britten-style song-cycle on war themes
yet with sylvan magic. The Fogg pieces
are delicate and perfectly rounded
miniatures.
Rob Barnett
Erik
Chisholm Website
Ailish Tynan (soprano); Roderick Williams
(baritone) (Hold) 
